Cross Promoting Social Media Platforms to Build Your Audience

Everyone wants more followers, and sometimes getting them is easier than you think! Cross-promoting your business’s social media accounts is a simple way to boost your fanbase across the board without spending a dime. Here’s how to get started:

Make cross promotion easy by creating an online document to list your business’s social media platforms and a link to each:

Create a document in your phone, on your computer, in Google Drive, or wherever else is convenient for you. Having all of your links in one location, and in a social media friendly format, will make promotion on the go incredibly easy.

Copy your newly-shortened link and paste it into your social media list, and repeat for each of your social media accounts, as well as your company website URL.

Decide which accounts you’d like to cross-promote:

The most common combo for cross promotion is Twitter and Facebook since they’re the most widely-used. This is a good place to start for most brands, however, it may be helpful to focus on the account you have the most followers and engagement on. Your cross-promotion will be more effective when it’s seen by a greater amount of your fans, which is why we had you note your follower counts on each account in Step 1. Staying on top of your followers on all of your social networks can help you create the most effective promotional posts.

Let’s say you’d like to encourage your existing Facebook fans to follow you on Twitter.

Why aren’t they already following you on Twitter, you may ask? We know they’re already a fan of your brand, or they wouldn’t have “liked” your Facebook page. It comes down to “out of sight, out of mind”: they haven’t thought to check your Twitter page, or even realized it exists. That’s where cross-promotion comes in.

Compose a cross-promotional post:

Your post should include:

A call-to-action for the user, and the valuable content they’ll receive. Translation: what do you want them to do, and what’s in it for them? For example:

“Follow us on Twitter for more home décor tips and exclusive follower discounts!”

A visual aid. This could be anything from your logo to a professional photo of you (if you’re a part of your brand) to product image. Avoid low-quality pixelated photos taken on a phone or on a non-professional camera, as well as screenshots of your Twitter (or other social media platform) profiles.

Linking Social Media Accounts:

Connecting your social media accounts with each other is a great way to let your followers know what platforms you are active on. For example, It can allow you to tweet every time you post something on Facebook, and post a status every time you tweet. However, link the wrong ones and you can severely damage your post visibility.

When uploading images from Instagram to Facebook, do so selectively. Choose the Instagram posts your audience is most likely to respond to and interact with.

You should utilize the “Post to Twitter” feature on Pinterest when pinning. However, do not Tweet every pin. You are sure to lose followers if you go on a pinning spree and post 20 pins to Tweet in a short period of time.

Be aware of how many posts you have going to each platform with linked accounts. You don’t need 4 posts with the same content to be tweeted right after each other.

Tip: both Instagram and Pinterest will let you share your content after you’ve already posted it. Come back a few hours later or even the next day to re-share the content rather than posting it to every social media network all at once.

Linking Don’ts:

Do not automatically link your Twitter account with the setting that posts all of your Tweets to Facebook.

Do not add every one of your Instagram posts to Facebook.

Do not share every pin from Pinterest to Twitter.

Bonus Cross-Promotion Tips:

Whenever possible, try to keep as many of your social media handles as consistent as possible. This makes it a lot easier when someone who follows you on one social media platform is searching for you on others!

Consider running a giveaway in which people are only eligible to enter if they’re already following all of your business’s social media accounts.

Run a sale where the first X people who follow you after Y date on a certain account will receive a discount. E.g. “Facebook Fan Exclusive Sale: the first 10 of you to follow us on Twitter this weekend will receive a buy-one-get-one-free discount!”

As always, keep your brand in mind. If you want your business’s identity to be colorful and friendly, your cross-promotional posts shouldn’t just say, “Like us on Facebook.” This is not very exciting or appealing. It’s called social media for a reason, so put in the extra minute to make your post sound inviting and let your personality shine!

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Allyn Lewis is an ambitious entrepreneur, publicist, blogger, and yoga instructor dedicated to inspiring others and strategically helping dreams come true. What stemmed from a love of dance and modeling, grew into a passion for building and growing brands in the entertainment and fashion industries. While she did graduate with a degree in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, Allyn credits her experiences and the ability to teach herself how to do anything for developing her career skills. She idolizes Olivia Pope and is also an ice cream enthusiast.